that made me want to respond … about time, but I respectfully disagree. 1. Because we should charge based on demand and the use of the system. Why is the church attendee any different from the movie watcher?

2. What if all the parking was filled up all day on Sunday and the coffee shop doesn’t have a place for its customers?

3. Jewish observation is on Saturday, Muslim on Friday.

If you are going to treat Sunday different because of church (Christian), then you must do it for all religions. If you let it go on Sunday just for Christians and not on the other service days, then you may have actually broken the Equal Protection Clause, twice!

JVH says: Charlie, Charlie, Charlie — why not have the

spaces around mosques and synagogues be free on Friday and Saturday, and the spaces around the churches be free on Sunday? See, we don’t have to have all the spaces in a community “free” on Sunday, Saturday or Friday, only those where the organizations meet. And why not? Religious organizations give back to the community; movie theaters do not. Is there a difference? Yes, and I think a big one. Understand that I am not saying that, as a matter of policy, cities should, all across the fruited plain, provide “free” parking for certain organizations, but I can see no reason if the cultural aspects of a certain community allows for such relief, why not. The Equal Protection Clause doesn’t

seem to me to apply. It was written as a civil rights law, to bring the 5th Amendment to apply to states, as well as to the federal government. I’m not sure that providing subsidized parking to a church or synagogue meets the same test as whether or not blacks can sit anywhere they want on a bus. We provide subsidized parking to

certain groups every day, whether it’s building a parking structure to support a sports complex or providing parking under a concert hall. In both cases, many of those attending did not drive cars, but those who did received parking at a rate far below the cost of providing it. The difference was made up by taxpayers. I suggest that folks going to worship the good Lord have just as much right to subsidized parking as those going to worship the NY Jets or the LA Philharmonic.

rta says: Sometimes people try to pick a

fight just because they can, and this is one of those instances. There is no discrimination involved by providing free parking on Sundays — unless you are limiting the use of that free parking to a specific group. The free parking is available to anyone who chooses to use it, regardless of their religion.